Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

In response to my colleague's last comment about common-sense thinking on planning, I think he will find in Ireland that common sense does not apply to planning agencies and planning permission being granted at the moment. He is 100% correct. It needs an entire overhaul.

I will support this Bill on Second Stage to keep the Housing Finance Agency, HFA, operating without interruption. This is a matter of great importance to families who are waiting for a home. The lifting of statutory borrowing limits is a technical step, but it will avoid a hard stop, similar to the hard stop that happened not so long ago with the tenant in situ scheme, which was an absolute thundering disgrace. It was wrong. There are still people in Cork city and county and across the country who have suffered because of the tenant in situ scheme. They thought they had their forever homes, deals had been done, in some cases contracts had been signed and the people are still left in limbo six and seven months later. People are ringing my office to ask if I have heard anything from the local authority or if I know anything about what is happening in their cases and whether they will be able to stay in the houses. Not just those people, but the people who entered the negotiations for the deal and contract are also ringing. That has to be sorted out.

I have to agree with my colleague in Sinn Féin who mentioned the tenant in situ scheme earlier. We had an opportunity in the recent budget to increase it, fix it and right the wrongs this Government and the Department of housing created. It is the one project that I would have praised to high heaven, that was working well and was actually giving value for money. It might not have been the value for money the Department official looked at on the Excel sheet, but when we work it out, the bang for buck the State was getting, the square footage in the second-hand market and the ability to house people without upsetting them and leaving them in their communities was second-to-none value.

The HFA's clear mission under the 1981 Act lends itself the financial basis for raising funds, through the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, from international partners such as the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe. I ask the Minister of State to consider adding some additional proposals to the Bill in advance of its passage. First, there should be the publication of a quarterly dashboard showing county level approvals and drawdowns with start and completion dates for the whole country, including my constituency of Cork North Central.

Second, I ask that tighter value for money tests be introduced on large borrowings, including approvals for housing bodies. Most of this is to facilitate the housing bodies. Having said that, and following on from Deputy Gogarty, while housing bodies play a huge role in housing our citizens now, we have to be cautious of them. We seem to be moving further and further, whether by design or lack of accountability, from the local authorities delivering. I see big offices being built all over the country and rents being paid by the approved housing bodies. I found it amazing that not so long ago Focus Ireland, which is, I believe, fully funded by the Government, took out campaigns against the Government. It not unusual for NGOs to do such things. Another group, an environmental body, is spending Government moneys it is drawing down to take out campaigns. Talk about the Government cutting a stick to beat itself with. The Government has no control over the NGOs because it is "splash the cash and throw it around the room, lads". The same is happening with a lot of these bodies.

I find it amazing we have to have a housing body in the centre of Dublin, or in the centre of Cork city, paying exorbitant rents when it could be in the commuter belt and smaller office units. The costs would be far lower. I find it bizarre we are putting it right in the city centre in very expensive office space but, you know, it is handy for people to be able to go for their lunches and swan around the city centre.

Working from home and the problems related to that were mentioned. I see it in my constituency in Cork where companies are telling people they might want to return to Spain, Portugal or Italy and work from home there because they cannot get accommodation. Many American and international companies are now saying they will close down the office and move to a different country.

See this speech in context